The Same Shade of Blue
by GooseLady31
Summary: Kyoko just returned from recording a commercial in America and is greeted by President Lory. He is happy to see her and places his request for her to star in a movie along with Ren! She is excited but what else does the President have to say about the matter? Many thing happen to force Kyoko and even Ren to think about where they are in their lives. KyokoXRen
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Skip Beat! or any of its characters.

Takes place a time after chapter 202

* * *

Kyoko hopped off the plane as it finally landed in Japan and she felt the sudden urge to dance with the thought of being back home. Her work in America was amazing, but there was nothing like being on familiar land.

"Mogami-kun, how was your trip?" Lory asked as he stepped out of a limousine to great her upon the landing.

"It was spectacular! I loved shooting over there!" she squealed like a little girl winning a toy and did a tiny dance in place.

Lory had to smile at the happiness his young star was showing as she glowed with her stories spilling out. He led her to his limousine and held the door open for her as she continued to share her tales.

"...Liberty was so huge! The pictures do nothing to give it any sort of justice! That was only the first week trip! New York was amazing! I can't even begin to tell you the joys of Las Vegas!.." she blurted out and began spilling off new tales of enjoyment and wonder. He could only hope her glow continued when he spilled his guts on her next act. She let out a rush of air as her tails were done.

"I take it the commercial went well then?" He was working to move her to the topic of her work.

"I think it went perfectly! A few of the places had a bit strict limits on where and what we were allowed to get images from, but all and all I thin it was complete success!" Kyoko said and smiled.

"When do you think you'll be ready to take on your next act?" he asked sounding as casual as possible.

Kyoko raised her eyebrows and turned to face Lory. She could read a disaster in the works just by the lack of his cunning smile. Whenever he was trying to hide something the corner's of his lips twitched as if not smiling was hurting him.

"What are you planning, President?" she asked slightly nervous. Deep down she knew there was some plan always building in his head and it was about time she found out what he was thinking.

"I have a new movie for you to take a star in, if you're willing to take the huge step," he said and let his smile break free. "This movie calls for you to take a leading role alongside another actor. If you are willing to make the big step, then you will be staring alongside Ren Tsuruga."

"I'll act with Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko stuttered as she spoke and nerves filled her face.

"Honey, many months ago you confessed complicated feelings when it came to Ren, and I have remained silent while you backed yourself away from him. Your locking up even forced Ren to take steps away from him out of fear of hurting you." Lory rubbed the bridge of his nose with his two fingers. "I have remained silent for long enough and you cannot be angry with me when I waited so long for you two to get your act together!"

Kyoko flinched and slunk back in her seat. She remembered confessing her feelings to the President and was blessed each day he kept his word to remain silent on the matter. But as time passed by her fear grew and she couldn't think about taking the first step in approaching Ren and confessing the growing love she held for him. As time continued to pass her fear was built up with images of the failures she carried on her back alongside Fuwa. Kyoko shook her head quickly to get the man's face out of her mind.

"...President, I thought you would step in at the very start. When you stuck by your words I allowed myself to fall back to the shy girl too afraid to act. I have been hurt in the past by a man I once loved and I couldn't take it again." Kyoko raised her eyes too look at him and fought to prevent the tears from falling. "I love Ren so much and I can't bare to risk losing him!"

Lory pulled her into his arms instantly to hold her as the tears fell. It was the second time he saw her cry over a man out of pure fear of taking the steps. "Shhh, it's okay. Don't I always have a plan in my head." He listened to her chuckled and felt her head bob. "I want you to remember the love you hold for Ren and I want you to take on this role in the new movie. I think this movie is going to force out everything that needs to come out between you. Just let things come as they feel ready. There's no need to rush and there's no need to hold back. I want you to read through the script and take a hold of the character. Tomorrow will be the first day of shooting and your first meeting with Ren."

Kyoko held the scrip in her hand and continued to wave as the limousine drove away. It was time for her to study the character known as Saitou Izumi.

...

Ren sat quietly in the makeup artist's chair as she dabbed the fake blood to his face. He was still in shock to really be where he was. He was getting ready to star in an action, romance movie with Kyoko. Before her departure to America he had seen her backing away from her feelings and he felt he held no right to pull her back. It took all the work to lock away his emotions towards the girl while she was gone. But getting the call last night from Lory crashed all of his hard work in a quick flash.

"And you're done!" the artist said and Ren almost flinched at the great work done. It appeared as if a sword really hacked off a good portion of his skin.

"Great work," he commented and the lady smiled. She shooed him out and he saw Kyoko talking to the director just off the set. She wore a black pleated mini skirt with dark leggings. The tennis shoes on her feet were just as black with white laces matching the tight, white tank top she wore. Her hair was styled in long, black waves. It was all topped off with red hot lipstick and makeup to make her eyes pop at anyone looking. Of all the outfits he would see her in first, it had to be that one. He rubbed his face as he stepped forward.

"R-Ren!" Kyoko said and did her best to hide her stutter and waved happily. He knew she wanted their friendship to build closely. If she was going to work with it, so would he.

"Kyoko," he said and was amazed by the happiness in his heart brought on by her smile. How could he have forgotten how much he cared about her? "How was your trip?"

"Beautiful!" she said and felt the urge to dive a bit deeper. "We'll have to go there together some day so I can show you all the amazing places."

Ren felt as if she had learned some secret magic to freeze his world. His mind stopped and all he could see was her. "That would be great."

"I thought so too!" she said appearing happy with his words. "I can't believe I was asked to star in a movie with you!"

He couldn't say how much he dreamed of taking on a romance role with her. Deep down, the hope of new feelings beginning to blossom from the acting would occur. Oh, what he would give to kiss her just once without cameras being involved. He slumped slightly with the thought as the director called out the scene.

"Actors, get to your places! We're going to shoot the scene where Kurokawa Kinji is attacked by young Saitou Izumi since we don't have Michiyo here to play the fiancé's death." The director looked around as the actors took their positions. "Action!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Skip Beat! or any of its characters.

* * *

"I know you killed my husband!" Izumi shouted and sat on the gentleman's stomach with her sword poking into his throat. "Tell me why I should let you live!"

Kinji rolled his eyes and tossed a glare at the girl on top of him. "He was planning on killing you and you were completely oblivious to it! Why would your father hire an assassin to kill the man you loved if there wasn't something wrong? Use your damn head!"

Izumi slapped the man beneath her across his face and threw her sword. He said the words that had been floating in her head, but she refused to listen. "Get away from me."

"I'm afraid I can't do that just yet," he said and got to his feet. "Your man still have loyal followers coming after you and I won't feel good until I know you're safe."

Izumi rolled her eyes and walked over to him. "Fine, protector of mine. Where do we go next? We can't exactly go back to my place since it's going to be the first place they look for me."

"I'm glad you're not completely stupid," he said with a smirk. "First, we need to see Toad."

"Toad?"

"It's my doctor's code name. He needs to stitch up a couple of scratches some crazy woman sent my way," Kinji joked and gave a steady smile in response to her laugh. He opened the room's door and obviously checked out her butt as she walked through. "Can I give you a compliment without sounding too dirty?"

"I guess I can take a nice comment right now," she said and looked over her shoulder.

"This outfit was a terrible weapon when you were fighting. Do you know how hard it is not to try and steal glances when you were doing those flips?" he asked and shook his head. He grabbed a tiny bit of her skirt and flipped it gently. "You looked very good when it spun up for me when I earned this little mark on my chin."

Izumi let a soft laugh escape and shook her head. "Keep those fingers to yourself or we may have to ad a mark to balance you out."

Kinji laughed as he pulled the door closed behind them.

"Cut!" the director called and sat back in his chair with a smile as Ren and Kyoko walked off the set and over to him. "The scene was basically perfect! A few edits from the technical guys and it'll be ready to go! I think we'll have no problem getting this movie done. Get these stars cleaned up and then we can all take a lunch!"

Kyoko smiled up at Ren and he returned the gesture. She lead their way to their dressing rooms and slipped into see Kanae sitting on her long couch. Instantly, she ran to her best friend's arms.

"What are you doing here?!" she asked as she took a seat in the chair to have her makeup and hair removed.

"When I was told you were staring in a movie I was so pumped!" Kanae said and gave Kyoko a proud smile. "I wanted to come and see you work and what do I see? You sitting on top of Japan's hottest actor as if it was an every day thing."

Kyoko did her best not to think back to the times she did sit on him in their role as Heel siblings. She was able to separate the feelings at that time as being a man's sister. Now the challenge would always be there for her to ignore the romance that was to be built between the characters.

The makeup artist took out the last bit of the black hair and stepped out of the room to give the women privacy. She died to know star's gossip, but she was woman enough to know when there was much more than simple gossip floating around.

"This movie, it's going to be deep, isn't it?" Kanae said and Kyoko's silence confirmed her thoughts. "There's obviously some action in it and that might be a challenge for you, sure. But I don't see what could keep you so quiet when you are working with the man you used to always call sempai. Wait, wait, wait!"

Kyoko sat back as she watched Kanae connect the pieces in her head. She hated how easy everyone read her. The only person unable to see was the one that really mattered.

"You love Ren!" Kanae yelled as she jumped to her feet and made Kyoko also jump up. She ran forward and covered her hand over her mouth.

"He doesn't know," Kyoko said in a whisper. "I can't tell him."

"Oh, for the love of...!" She threw her hands in the air and let of a frustrated growl. Were both parties in the building relationship so oblivious to the other. "When are you planning to tell him? You can't keep this locked up much longer!"

Kyoko chewed on her bottom lip and shrugged. "I hope it just rolls off eventually and I'm able to just spill it out. I'm just afraid of what he will do when I tell him."

Idiot she thought about her friend but she couldn't say the word when the woman was so obviously lost. "What is going on the rest of the day?"

"Right now is our lunch break and then we're going to shoot one more scene before the day is done," Kyoko picked up a brush and ran it through her short hair. She saw Kanae open her closet and pull out random clothes. "What are you doing?"

"If you want to know how he feels you need to dress yourself up and see how he reacts. It's hard to get a reaction out of that man but I've noticed you are able to pull his strings. Ware that and pay attention to what he does," Kanae said and tossed the clothes on the couch.

"If you say so," Kyoko said and changed into the outfit. The jeans were tight and made her hips pop like she was a super star. The shirt was cut to fall slightly off her right shoulder and allow a man's mind to wonder. She had no idea where these clothes came from or where she got them. But she looked damn fine.

"I've seen you walk in heels, so just put on those flats," Kanae said and Kyoko stuck out her tongue. She grabbed Kyoko and gave a wink for luck. When she opened the door she saw Ren give her a shocked look. "Hey Tsuruga-san. I just wanted to give Kyoko a quick hello before I headed out for my commercial shoot. Have a good lunch guys!"

Kyoko stepped out as Kanae ran away and her eyes met Ren's. She caught his quick glance to her bare shoulder and the very unnoticeable search up and down her body. How many times had she missed that look? It made her stomach tighten and her hands grew sweaty.

"Where did you get those clothes?" he asked with a smirk trying to appear unaffected by her look.

"Just something I found in my closet. Probably gifts from the President. You know how he gets," she said. "Where do you want to go for our lunch?"

Ren appeared next to her before she walked to far away from him and looked down at her and grumbled. "A place with a low male population."

Kyoko played dumb and looked up at him innocently. "What?"

"Let's go to the shack that just down the road. There won't be a lot of people there we need to avoid."

...

Ren knew his eyes were jumping around trying avoid looking too close at Kyoko. The outfit she wore had his head spinning into positions he never thought he would allow his mind to place her. He could see her curled up in his bed, relaxing in his bathtub, or sitting on his stomach like she had done only twenty minutes ago.

"Ren, are you alright?" she asked innocently.

Hearing his name roll of her lips and the tilt of her head was only adding to his crazy head. When had he gotten so lost when it came to women? Kyoko chuckled and he looked up curiously.

"You look like you are trying to solve the world's toughest problem. Care to let me have a go?" Kyoko took a final drink of her tea and sat back relaxed. It was evil to think she had no idea what she was doing to him.

"I'm just trying to figure out why people are so drawn to the type of movie we are working on," he said. He glanced around and saw that no one appeared to be listening. Kyoko did the same and knew they shouldn't spill anything other than what the public already knew about the movie. Ren took their bill and his credit card to the register to pay. After they signed their autographs they left and headed to where the movie's next scene took place.

"I think I may know the answer to your thoughts," Kyoko said and Ren looked down at her patiently. He was curious what she would say to answer him. "I think everyone in this world wants something solid in a relationship. They want it to be solid and stable, but deep down we all know nothing it one hundred percent stable. Put together romance between two people tried to fight and that escalades the unstable threat of danger. Raising danger can push people to step up and stand closer together and raise the romance. This movie hits all of our wants and dreams right at the heart."

Ren smiled down at Kyoko and shook his head. He could not believe the words he was hearing were coming from her mouth. "When did I miss you growing up?"

"About the same time you backed away from me after our Heel act," she said and skipped away to where the director stood and spoke with him.

Ren stopped walking as soon as the words left her mouth. He could not believe she said what she said. There was very little if any chance he even took a single step away from her ever. He watched her every movement before the Heel siblings were created and continued to follow her afterwards. Why didn't she see that?

Because he did his damn best to hide it from her. He gave a sigh of defeat and walked over to sit with his makeup artist.

"We're doing the meeting after you see Toad," Kyoko said. "The director said it's on page thirty-nine."

Ren picked up the scrip to drill in his lines while his character was created. They were going to record the first scene to build up their romance. Great.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Skip Beat! or any of its characters.

* * *

Kenji glanced over at Izumi and saw she was spacing off in her thoughts. "What are you thinking about."

"My husband. Was he really trying to have me killed?" she asked and turned to face him with sadness in her eyes.

"I'm afraid so," Kenji said and shook his head. "I don't see why he would think to do something so foolish. You have a powerful father able to take care of any problem in the world and he loves you very much."

"I think that's part of it," Izumi said and leaned down to pick at a flower. "This flower holds beauty unreachable to some people in this world. In order to make myself feel more beautiful than this flower all I have to do is pluck off one petal at a time." Izumi pulled off the white petal and let it flutter to the ground. "Each petal removed gives me more power and weakens the flower at the same time. Hurting me would hold power over my father and threatening to do much worse could have given him more power than anything."

"Or get him killed," Kenji said and scratched his head. "Girl, you have an interesting taste in men."

"You have no idea," she chuckled and pulled her legs onto their bench as she turned to face him. "Once I fell for a guy hard enough to allow him to use my car for street racing and then I had to explain to my dad why my car was being held by the police. I didn't get nearly as much hell as the kid got, but I still got my fair share."

"I think you're doing something wrong," he said and placed his arm on the back of the bench.

Izumi inched closer to him and placed her head on his arm. "I think it's past time for me to do something right."

Kenji looked down into her eyes and they remained silent for a while before he found the courage to speak. "We barely know one another and I'm not certain as to what's ahead of us. Let's take ten steps back and do this right."

Izumi raised her head and gave him a puzzled look as he held out his hand.

"My name is Kurokawa Kinji and I live my life as a body guard. I want to help you get through this little battle and I hope we can be friends. If more comes from this, then so be it. But I'm not going to force it to happen," Kinji said and waited patently until Izumi took his hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Saitou Izumi and I live my life as a woman looking for some reasoning behind the chaos in my life. I have no problem being you friend, but I'm am going to make it my mission to get in your bed before your mission is over," Izumi said and moved quickly forward to give him a sudden kiss. "I bet I'll win." She jumped to her feet and ran away with laughter.

"Damn it," Kinji got to his feet as well and gave a smirk. "You shouldn't go running off like that. You have people hunting you!"

The cameraman followed the couples' run and waited to kill the machine until the director yelled cut. He watched Ren and Kyoko walk back laughing with each other. Lory wasn't completely lost with the hidden goals he carried with them.

"I thought you would freeze," Ren said honestly. He chuckled. "That look of shock was purely honest. I can't believe you kissed me."

"Hey, don't let your head get too big. I didn't kiss you. Izumi kissed Kinji," Kyoko said and did her best to pull her head from the shot. "Honestly, I'm surprised I did so well, also."

"Don't be surprised!" the director chanted and pulled her into a hug. "I honestly didn't think you could do it, but you did it. Yet another take that was a perfect recording. Damn, you two should have gotten together a long time ago! Alright everyone! That's a day's work! See you for next week's shoot!"

Kyoko stood still as the artist removed her make up and hair style. She slipped into the lady's restroom to change back into the outfit Kanae picked out for her. It did make her feel pretty cute.

"I still can't get over you dressing in those clothes," Ren said from a bench outside the lady's room.

"Waiting for me?" Kyoko asked.

"I was hoping you would be willing to come to my place and cook me a nice meal. I haven't had a home cooked meal since before your trip East," Ren held out his hand and Kyoko took hold. "I want to sit down and talk with you. Is that alright?"

"About time," she said and gave a smile. "What do you want to eat then?"

"Let's have you surprise me," he said and climbed into the driver's seat.

Kyoko peeked over at him as he started the engine. The sky was just starting to lose hints of the sun and his eyes appeared so strong. As she thought back she could remember the times she would tremble when their eyes met and how afraid she was of the beat her heart danced to when he was around.

"What are you thinking about to give you such a far off look?" he asked. The look he gave her made her feel as if he knew every word she was about to say.

"I was thinking back to how much you seemed like a challenge to me and you always encouraged me every step I took. My goal was to reach your level and crush Sho into the ground." She was lucky enough to catch the twitch in his face when she mentioned her old crush's name. She was learning so much and it hadn't even been a complete day spent with him. "I don't believe I have quite reached to your standing just yet, but I do feel as if I have let go of my old crutch."

"Crutch?" Ren parked his car and killed the engine. They got out of the vehicle and Kyoko walked right next to him and hid her waiting for him to take a hold of her hand again.

"In my head, I believed I needed him to support me and help me stand strong," she shook her head and gave a sad sigh. "It took too much for me to realize he was only a weight holding me back and not worth the worry or love I wasted on him."

Ren let her hand go as she began digging through his closets as if she lived there with him for a long time. She opened his freezer and took out a frozen pizza with a container of chicken wings. As she worked she began to hum a tune to herself and he never took his eyes off her. It was amazing she was unaware of all the times he followed her ever movement. He knew the way she walked, the way she talked and even the way she buried things inside. Since she kept so much inside he was only curious to know how much he was missing out on.

"Ren, in about twenty minutes the food will be ready," she took a seat at the kitchen table and smiled at him.

"I love how you smile almost every second of the day," he said.

"Love, huh?" Kyoko raised an eyebrow. "I love the way you have never uttered that word in connection between you and I ever."

Ren opened his mouth to argue, but he didn't have a point to argue. She was completely right. He was head over heels in love with her, but she had no clue. He wondered what she would do if she found out how he felt.

"It seems as if we're going to do the fighting scenes the next time we go to work," Kyoko said and chuckled. "That's going to be a lot harder than kissing you."

"I thought that was only Izumi kissing Kenji?" Ren said and watched her face go bright red.

"It was!" she jumped to her feet and walked away.

Ren walked up behind her as she walked to the wall. It felt as if she was asked him to act on the images in his head. He continued to walk forward until her back hit the wall. She looked up at him and he ran the back of his fingernails on her cheek. A shout of triumph sounded in his heart as he watched her muscles twitch from the chills he gave her.

"I think we should practice the kissing," he said in a hushed tone. "We need to make their interaction as real as possible."

"Ren..." Kyoko whispered his name. Before his face got too close she twisted away. "The pizza might be done now."

"Damn," he mumbled under his breath and rested his head against the wall. There was no point in hiding his feelings now. That little episode screamed everything to her and crashed every wall he tried to hold up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Skip Beat! or any of its characters.

* * *

The following week Kyoko walked onto the set for her scheduled time for recording. Ren was nowhere to be seen since they were going to be shooting her scenes with Michiyo. She took her seat in the makeup chair and watched as her face as Izumi was brought to life. A simple spring dress was the scene's costume and she stepped out to see Michiyo dressed in comfy shorts and no t-shirt for their picnic scene.

"Megumi, beautiful as always!" he said and got to his feet as she joined him on set. He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. His dark eyes were handsome and he had muscles in all the right places.

"Actors get into place!" the director shouted and Kyoko sat with Michiyo on the blanket.

Their couple only had four, very short scenes to record speaking together and they would serve only as memory flashes Izumi has at one shot in the movie. Their final role together was shooting Izumi finding her husband's body cut several times and his blood all over their living room.

"Haruo, I only just got off work. There was some kind of construction work going on," Izumi called out and placed her purse on the kitchen table. She hummed as she walked into the next room and screamed. She ran to her husband's side and fell to her knees. "Haruo! Haruo! Wake up!"

Haruo remained still and didn't show a single sign of breathing. Izumi hit his chest and looked at her hand to see the blood she felt. She looked up as a door slammed in the house. She jumped to her feet and ran after the sound. She got to the back door and saw a note.

-You need to run now!-

Izumi ripped up the piece of paper and missed when she tossed it in the trash can. When she bent to pick it up a knife hit the wall only inches above her head. She cursed and then screamed. Tears ran down her face as she ran out of the building and left her husband behind.

"Cut!"

Kyoko stood at the edge and wiped the tears off her cheeks as she left behind her character. She loved the skills she held with her job. She hated how she got too far sucked in at times.

"That's all we're shooting today," the director said as he walked to her with a tissue.

"No, I'll be fine. We can do more once I clean up," Kyoko said and rubbed the cloth under her eyes.

"Lory told me you would need time to recoup from emotionally powerful scenes. I wanted to get these out of the way and then we can meet again tomorrow for more," he said.

And just like he said, they met again the following day. She didn't know how or why he did it, but they didn't shoot any of the scenes needed done with her and Ren together. At the moment, she sat tied to a chair and appeared to be locked in a room. Ren stood out of her sight watching them do the recording.

An older gentleman ran in and used a knife to cute her wrists free and she ripped the tape from her mouth.

"Toad?" she gasped and shook her head. "Where's Kenji?"

"He's taking care of some guys out front. Come on, we have to get out of here." As soon as he turned around three fighters rushed in to take them out.

Toad dropped to the ground and spun his foot to knock one of the men backwards. He jumped forward and began punching the fighter in the face. Izumi got onto the chair once holding her captive and jumped to kick the other two men charging her in the face. They stumbled backwards and one of the guys smacked his head on the wall causing him to pass out. Izumi crouched down and hit him with a hard punch to the stomach. He gasped as Izumi delivered another kick making him fall to his knees.

"Let's get out of here," she said and they ran out.

"Cut!" The director scratched his head and looked at everyone. "We have hit all of the intense scenes today and tomorrow will be as many of the romance takes between Izumi and Kenji as possible. There will be a short break period after tomorrow and then we'll shoot the minor scenes that are left."

The actors and actresses left the set and went to get themselves back into their real life attire. Kyoko put on a comfy pair of shorts and a cute t-shirt with a symbol of hope on the shoulder. She stepped out and Ren walked over to her from where he stood with another actor.

"Kyoko, will you go out with me tonight?" he asked and held out his hand for her answer.

Without a second thought she took his hand and smiled up at him. She had missed spending time with him and she was glad they were working to talk again. It felt so lonely without having the time to spend with him. Even if he crossed the line into touching way too fast, she wanted to see where they were at.

The lights on the buildings as they passed by in his car caught her eyes in the most beautiful way. Ren could not believe he had given her as much time to think as he managed. She was the most gorgeous woman he ever knew and he had to have her. He wanted her physically, emotionally and any way possible. She was the little girl he loved as a young boy and found again as a grown adult. There was no way he could let her leave him alone tonight.

"What's this place?" Kyoko asked.

"A little steak house I've gone to a couple times. Really nice people," Ren promised and turned off his car. He jumped out and ran over to open Kyoko's door and took her hand as she stepped out. "It's time I did things right."

Kyoko was shock when Ren asked their waiter to take them to their own special table on a patio away from everyone else. She felt complete happiness as they sat with one another completely alone.

"Ren, what is going on?" she asked as wine was poured.

The waiter walked away and Ren answered her question. "After I cornered you in my kitchen and you turned away from me I realized I was doing something wrong if you pulled away. I want you in my life Kyoko. I want you to look at me more than a sempai and I need to tell you something I have fought away for a long time. Kyoko, I love you."

Kyoko put her hand over her mouth as it dropped open in shock. She had her suspicions, but hearing his words made it all solid. A tear of happiness escaped and she smiled as she spoke. "I love you too, Ren. So much more than I ever thought possible!" She got to her feet and he stood to catch her as she ran into his arms.

"This all came out because some man had us act in a movie together," Ren said and ran his fingers through her hair.

"If only he would have done this sooner!" Kyoko chuckled and buried her face into his chest.

"I wasn't ever going to tell you, but can I share a secret I've been hiding from you for a while. I guess you could say many years," Ren said. He put his finger under her chin and raised her face to look in her eyes. "I know about you story with the fairy prince named Corn. Kyoko, I am the same boy you met many years ago."

Kyoko shook her head. She adored the prince as a child and would have done anything to run away with him. "I wanted to be his friend forever, and then he left to go back to his kingdom."

"I left to come back here. If someone ever told me I would meet you again in the future I would have not believed them at all. Kyoko, we were meant to be together. I feel it all through me. What about you?" Ren asked and stepped back with his hand sliding into his pocket.

"Oh, Ren! I don't ever want us to be apart!" she said with a positive smile.

Ren got down on one knee as he pulled his hand out of his pocket to show off the ring box he kept hidden from her for too long. She gasped as she looked down and saw a stone with a shade of blue matching the stone Corn gave her exactly. "This stone once held all of my sad feelings. I made it into a ring after my time spent with you and now it only has the ability to hold my happy feelings. Kyoko, will you help me continue to fill this stone with happy feelings and marry me?"

"Yes! Oh, Ren! Yes!" she let him slip the ring onto her finger and dropped to her knees to pull him into a hug. It was amazing to think a simple friend in a childhood could grow and give her amazing love in the future.


End file.
